


Tell Me Something I Already Know

by raviiel



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Kage Bunshin | Shadow Clones, M/M, Naruto doesn't appreciate how convincing his shadow clone is, Naruto uses a shadow clone but it's not what you think, Naruto: Can't I just punch my way through this?, Post-Chapter 698 (Naruto), Self-Discovery, Talk about your feelings they said, it'll be fun they said, 中文翻译 | Translation in Chinese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-07 18:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15913419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raviiel/pseuds/raviiel
Summary: Naruto talks to himself. He gets a little more than he bargained for.





	Tell Me Something I Already Know

**Author's Note:**

> [This story is now available in Chinese!](http://wintersecretcorner.lofter.com/post/1d24afb0_12d159637) A thank you to the wonderful [RCA__5768](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RCA__5768/profile) for taking the time to do that!

"This is ridiculous." Naruto mutters to himself.

"Oh, whatever. It was _your_ idea." Naruto replies, exasperated.

Naruto glares at himself. "I'm nothing like Sasuke!" His one hand throws up in the air. "How the hell d'you expect this to work?!"

"First of all, don't yell at me. Second, it was _your_ idea, so you can't back down now. You a _scaredy cat?"_

"Oh, that's it—"

Naruto jumps his shadow clone and they tussle, rolling off the bed and causing the old man downstairs to shout at him again for making a racket. The clone flickers with the orange glow of Kurama's chakra mode and Naruto scowls, yanking a kunai from his side table.

"No KCM in the house!" he gripes, grunting when he runs the clone through with the knife. In a puff of smoke, he's alone. He's pretty sure he can hear the old man still grumbling at him one floor below. Man, he really has to find a new place to live. It's such a small, old apartment and he's outgrown it more than a little.

Flopping onto the floorboards with his arm lifelessly spread, Naruto glares more fissures into the cracked plaster of the ceiling.

_Have a 'heart to heart' with Sasuke, they said... It'll be fun, they said..._

He'll admit it; he's had a lot of stupid ideas before, but this one... It's got to be his worst yet. He's never claimed to have any kind of expertise when it comes to, as Sakura put it, 'emotional communication,'—meaning talking about _feelings_ and being able to express _feelings_ without using violence or force _—_ but good grief, it can't be _this_ hard. Maybe it wouldn't be if the end goal wasn't a certain bastard who's also about as emotionally constipated as they come. It doesn't really help that they haven't talked all that much these last two months... Hell, he feels like most of their interaction was either when they were cooped up in the hospital or during Sasuke's trial—the second of which Naruto didn't even _see_ Sasuke while it was going on.

There's been sparring too, but it doesn't count, not by a long shot. Apparently, it falls under the category of 'communication through violence and force'. Sakura thinks that's all they know how to do between them. He hasn't been able to tell her she's wrong yet. Neither of them were made for this, he's convinced, and that's why he's been putting it off.

He can't put it off anymore. _Damn_ him for waiting so long already.

Sasuke is set to leave in a little over a day and up until this point, Naruto has been thinking of ways to talk to him and even more things to say to him. By now, so much is pent up that it's all crawling under his skin and scratching at the inside of his mouth for freedom—that's the problem though. If he goes over there and tries to talk now, everything will tumble out and Sasuke will just stare at him like they're not even from the same species, write him off, and that'll be it. Who knows how long he'll be gone after that. Naruto is running out of time and he _can't_ punch his way through this one, no matter how much he wants to.

Practice is _important._ That's what he's trying to do. It hasn't been working out all that great.

The idea is to take a shadow clone, have it transform into Sasuke with his stupid blank (condescending, don't forget condescending, because no matter how expressionless Sasuke seems, he's just got that _air_ about him), and then... talk to it, basically. He still hasn't figured out what it is exactly he wants to talk about, but—Sakura insists. His own chest insists.

_Worst idea ever, pretty much._

He clicks his tongue. Spiteful of himself, he pushes up and another shadow clone poofs into existence.

"Ready to talk?" the clone asks. That's the problem with shadow clones. They're _him,_ exactly. Sentient. Mouthy. Annoying. He can't get upset when someone says he's being annoying these days because damn, doesn't he know it.

He contemplates the shadow clone for a second. It's got his face; the same one he sees every day in the mirror, but it's... different. He doesn't go around absorbing every detail about his clones, but when one is sitting in font of him, it's hard not to look at it. It's like a twin, except _him._ He can't stop his stomach from rolling a bit at the thought. Now, too, it reminds him that he's missing a whole limb.

"'Bout as ready as I'll ever be. C'mon."

In another cloud of smoke, an uncanny likeness of Sasuke is sitting crisscross in front of him, Rinnegan, similarly missing arm and all. Naruto swallows thickly. His transformation skills have seriously improved over the years. In fact, it's a little _too_ hard to tell the difference between his Sasuke and the real deal. He'd be praising himself if his nerves weren't so goddamned tangled.

"Well?" clone-Sasuke says with Sasuke's voice, and Naruto is hard-pressed not to flinch. "If we don't do this now, we're probably never going to."

Naruto seriously doesn't like how convincing clone-Sasuke is. He drops his face into his hand. "Just... Gimme a second, bastard."

_Bastard._ Oh great, it's not even the real Sasuke and he's already treating it like it. Fuck him all the way to the hells below.

...Where does he even start? He's got a lot to say, sure, but he also doesn't know how to say any of it. Dammit.

Clone-Sasuke sighs. Why is he so convincing?

"Let's start with questions, then. I'll ask."

Questions. Yeah; a good place to start. Answers are easier to come up with if they're prompted. No sweat. It's not like Naruto has failed pretty much every written or oral exam he's ever had to take in his life. _No sweat._

"How do you feel about me?"

Naruto seizes up instantly, eyes wide. Clone-Sasuke watches him, nothing different about his features.

"What the hell," Naruto snaps, "you can't just start with _that._ Ask something easier."

Clone-Sasuke rolls his eyes. "We're coming back to it, then."

"Yeah, yeah. Just ask something else already. Easier, I said."

After a moment's contemplation, clone-Sasuke asks, "Do you still want to become Hokage?"

Naruto opens his mouth immediately, because what kind of question is that? Of _course_ he does—except. Well, actually.

Does he?

Anyone who knows him would be shocked to hear that kind of doubt, but... The whole reason he wanted the hat is gone now. It's been gone for a while. _Acknowledgment._ That's what he wanted. Everyone had to pay respect and attention to the Hokage because that's how it is, but... Everyone pays both to Naruto now. He can't even walk the streets without being swarmed by excited kids, greeted by everyday villagers, sometimes even confessed to by people. It's... wild how much the spotlight shines on him these days.

Sometimes it shines so much that he has to get away. He'll never tell anyone, but it's a little suffocating. He realizes that being Hokage would be like that too, but way more often than is safe. The position just isn't necessary for his well-being anymore. Maybe it was always just... a shallow dream born from a kid's desperation to be noticed and treated like a human.

He clears his throat, shifting. "I... don't know." he finally answers. "Maybe." They're weak, cop-out answers, but it's the best he's got right now.

Clone-Sasuke regards him for a moment, no smartass remarks made or incoming, and then shrugs to move on to the next question.

"Do you still have a crush on Sakura?"

Sakura, not 'Sakura-chan'. Sasuke would _never_ call her that. He's never used honorifics with his peers, now that Naruto thinks of it. The clone is too solid, he thinks again. He scowls.

"What's that got to do with any—"

"Just answer the question, idiot."

Naruto's eyes narrow, but then he easily answers, "Nope." He sighs, still surprised at himself for it even though it's been a while since he accepted it. "She's just one of my best friends. I sure love her still, but... Not like that, not anymore."

"Surprise, surprise," clone-Sasuke snorts sardonically, "I thought you'd never get over her."

_"Whatever,"_ Naruto finds himself retorting. "Why, you want her now?"

Clone-Sasuke rolls his eyes. "What do _you_ think?"

Actually, Naruto isn't sure what to think. It's not like him and Sasuke ever spent a whole bunch of time talking about _girls_ or crushes, or whatever. Romance didn't exactly have a lot of room to exist in their lives anyway; Sasuke was too busy being a rogue and Naruto was too busy chasing after him. He feels like... No? Come to think of it, did Sasuke ever actually care about Sakura? Definitely not in the same way she did about him—or.

He groans, grabbing his head. He doesn't know.

"Just— _Next question."_

Clone-Sasuke readjusts himself, laying on his side with his head propped up in the one hand and one leg pulled bent. Naruto narrows his eyes at him.

"Comfortable, asshole?"

"Needs a couple pillows, if you're offering." clone-Sasuke replies, almost cheekily. Sasuke, cheeky. Hah. Sasuke is as dry as Wind Country and sardonic, never cheeky like some brat. The reminder that he's talking to a clone and not the real deal is stupidly relieving. He'd be completely mortified. He _is_ completely mortified.

"Next question." he presses.

Clone-Sasuke huffs, some kind of amused. "Okay then. Would you do the same for her?"

Naruto raises an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"I know you're an idiot, but don't play dumb."

"Hey, fuck you!" Naruto exclaims, flipping him off. "Explain."

Eyes closing, clone-Sasuke says, "If Sakura left..."

Naruto blinks. Oh. _Oh..._

Question of the century, apparently. Everyone's either asked him or has wanted to ask him; why go so far for Sasuke? He's asked himself that before too, but it's... That's... It's too much to think about. His brain hurts at the _thought_ of thinking about it. He wants to say yes, of course he would. He'd do the same for every single one of his friends. All of them, if he had to.

...But would he? It's never come to that, so he'll never know until it does. Gods forbid though—chasing after Sasuke was completely worth it in every way, but sometimes Naruto thinks maybe... It did him a little more bad than good. Broke him a little bit more than it filled his fractures.

"Pass." he says quietly.

Clone-Sasuke shrugs, like he'd been expecting that. He immediately follows with, "If I left again, would you?"

"Yes."

He doesn't even have to think about it. If Sasuke ran off again— _left him behind again—_ Naruto would go after him no matter what. Always. Til the end. It'll hurt like walking through a wildfire without protection, but he'll choke down the smoke and turn it into fuel if it means getting Sasuke back.

"You answered too quickly." clone-Sasuke accuses.

Naruto scowls. "What, you expect me to say _no?"_

"No." he says honestly—clone-Sasuke is clone-Naruto, of course he knows the answer is no. "But why not the others?"

"Pass." Naruto shakes his head, tucking his arm in and stubbornly glowering in another direction.

"We're never going to get anywhere like this." clone-Sasuke says, teetering onto his back. Naruto watches his chest rise and fall. "Why do you need this, anyway? Don't you have closure? He's still here, isn't he?"

"Sure, but not for long." Naruto grumbles, trying to hide his misery at the thought. Sasuke isn't defecting again, but who knows how long it'll be before he comes back. He scowls. "And you're breaking character."

"Oh, whatever. It's not like this is working out anyway. Why don't you just go talk to the real Sasuke?"

"Because!" Naruto hisses, slapping his palm onto the floor and leaning over. "Because... I need practice... Just. I don't have a lot of time." He's trying to conceal how desperate he sounds, but gods, it leaks through like a flood anyway. "C'mon. Another question."

Clone-Sasuke turns his head to look at him. He points vindictively. "Fine. But you can't pass anymore."

Naruto crosses his arm again, petulant. "Fine. I won't. Get on with it."

Sitting up, clone-Sasuke asks, "Do you want me to stay?"

"Yes." He answers in a heartbeat.

"Why? Things will never go back to how they were before."

Naruto's eyes go to the floor, fingers curling tighter into his arm. "I know that," he snaps, defensiveness creeping at his tone. "But I just... Don't feel right when you're not somewhere I can reach you."

It sounds stupid. It probably _is_ stupid, but that's the only way he can think to put it. He just... _needs_ Sasuke. It doesn't matter how, just so long as he has him. Sasuke can go all he wants to, impermanent or what, but Naruto doesn't have to like it. It's still going to hurt watching his back shrink away into a distance he can't reach.

"Do you trust me to come back?"

"Of course I do." Naruto flares. "You're not dumb enough to try that mess again."

Clone-Sasuke's brow twitches, though Naruto can't think of why. Confusion? Irritation?

"I'll chase you every time, I already told you." he repeats. "There's nowhere you can go that I can't find you."

"And you'll drag me right back here, won't you?" clone-Sasuke asks, tone a little darker. Naruto subconsciously leans back at it, discomfort and bemusement in a raised eyebrow.

"...Where else would I drag you? This is your home, Sasuke. Here. With me..." His voice trails into quietness at the end. Not that he'd ever tell the real Sasuke that. He'd never say that he wants Sasuke here for _him,_ not the village.

"This isn't my home, Naruto." clone-Sasuke says quietly. "Maybe it was, but after everything—"

"What are you saying?" Naruto cuts him off, keeping his panic at bay. He'll chase Sasuke, but he doesn't want to, doesn't know if he can, if he'll last through that again. "Isn't that what Ita—"

_"Don't be ridiculous, Naruto!"_ clone-Sasuke snaps, and Naruto flinches so hard that the world almost spins. "After everything, after everything _you found out_ , do you think you have the _right_ to restrain him to this village?"

His voice is so cold that it injects ice into Naruto's veins. His heart starts to speed up. Sweat coats his palms. He gets— _angry._

"What's so wrong with that!" he growls. "What the _hell's_ so wrong with me wanting him here?!"

"Everything, Naruto!" clone—clone? Too real for a clone at this point—Sasuke hisses right back. "There's no _place_ for him here anymore. They don't even _want_ him here, why the hell would he ever want to stay where he's not wanted?"

"Because they'd—they'd kill him otherwise!"

"Oh," Sasuke snorts harshly, arcing his hand to the side, "like that'd be any different from what the did to the rest of his clan."

"It's not like that!" Naruto groans, shoving a hand through his hair. "It's different, Sasuke is—"

"I want you to use that idiot brain of yours for once, Naruto." Sasuke says evenly, coldly. "Sasuke's entire clan, gone. For reasons beyond their control. And who's to blame?"

"Definitely not the entire fucking village!" Naruto barks, throwing his arm out. "Most people didn't even _know—"_

"But the council did. The council did, and they made it happen, and some of those people are still in power." Sasuke retorts, jaw tight.

Naruto's own jaw grits. "But Kakashi-sensei—"

"Was _raised_ in this system and knows no other way. Even _he_ can only do so much, and was barely able to help Sasuke during those proceedings. It's probably only even because of _you_ that he's free." His voice is so cold and upset; bitter and tight and all these things that... that Naruto is feeling too familiarly. That he's starting to realize—fuck—he's _always_ felt since he found out the truth about the Uchiha.

"Then _I'll_ do it." He jabs his thumb into his chest. "I'll change it—When I become Hokage—"

Sasuke's disdainful huff cuts him off. "You grew up in this system too, your _loyalty—"_ The way he spits that word shoots through Naruto's stomach. Loyalty defines him and he knows it. He has it. It's undying. That hasn't always been a good thing. "—renders you ignorant to the things that go on here. Even after how they treated you! Even after you've seen the worst this place has to offer... You only know what this village has given you and it's what you've followed forever. You haven't seen enough of the world to be a good leader."

It aches something awful. His heart drums in his head, threatening a headache and blood pressure high enough to pop a vein. Yes, he's naive, but that can _change._ He can _learn._ Fear can control people and make them do really fucking terrible things—he's lived the prime example, and Sasuke has too. What happened to the Uchiha and what happened to him... If he can help it, he never wants anything like that to happen to anyone else. There are still so many promises he's got to fulfill, so many things he needs to do. Yeah, okay, he can't really do some of them as he is now, but if he works as hard as he always has and becomes Hokage—

"Then I'll go with him." he suddenly says.

Sasuke stops, eyes widening. Naruto's eyes widen at the same time. Oxygen seems a bit thin in his lungs.

_That's it._

"I wanna..." He covers the bottom half of his face with his hand, stunned by this epiphany. "Oh gods. I wanna go _with Sasuke."_ He pushes himself off the floor and immediately heads for the door, but then wheels around. "I wanna be a good leader. I want to protect people, _my_ people. My _precious_ people. I wanna protect _Sasuke._ Sakura-chan. Kakashi-sensei. Sai. Captain Yamato, Granny—everyone. But If... If I don't know enough about all kinds of people—" He pauses, and then scrubs his hair with his fingers. "I _want_ to know. I wanna know all the different kinds of ways the world works. I _need_ to. I need to know enough so that people like Sasuke never have to suffer through something like _that_ ever again." He's pacing at this point, chakra so excited that it's leaving faint scorches on the floorboards.

He's breathing a little too fast and heavy, absolutely floored by himself. It's like a new sun went off inside of his head instead of a light bulb, and now he can see _everything._

It's a long moment before Sasuke—Sasuke? Not-Sasuke—grasps his wrist, making him nearly trip over himself. When he looks down to glare, Sasuke's intent eyes bore into him. The transformation Rinnegan is a sham, but Naruto still hasn't gotten used to seeing it look his way. Even a fake pierces right through him.

"Then let me ask you again." he says, the coldness gone. "Do you still want to be Hokage?"

_Hokage. Leader. Guide._

Being Hokage isn't about the respect _or_ the attention. It's not even about the acknowledgment or recognition. He figures he must've already learned that a while ago but it had been benched all that time in favor of chasing all over the continent. The Hokage is a leader. A protector. Yeah, the Hokage of old did some real fucked up things that still affect the village today, but another Hokage has the power to mend those mistakes, even if it takes an entire lifetime.

As it is, the Hidden Leaf isn't somewhere Sasuke can comfortably stay. Naruto has... known that (maybe even fostered resentment at the village for that), but the thought of losing Sasuke, of him going somewhere Naruto can't follow scares him— _terrifies him, makes him miserable, feel lost_ —and because of that, he was willing to ignore it in favor of pretending things were fine. He wanted to pretend that Sasuke could call the Leaf _home_ —damn, that's too unfair of him. Downright _selfish._ How dare he have the gall to call himself Sasuke's best friend when he'd been willing to let his greed and _fear_ tie Sasuke down to a place he didn't want to be in.

Maybe Sasuke will never call the Leaf home. Maybe he'll never be happy or at ease here. But that doesn't mean Naruto can't _try._ If someone steps up, there's a chance to make this place into somewhere someone so wronged by its foundation could call home. That could be _him._

That _will_ be him.

Determination curls his fist and his shoulders set. "Yes."

Sasuke lets his wrist go, settling with his arm resting on top of his bent knee. He studies Naruto for a long moment.

"Then I only have one more question." he says. Naruto steels himself for it, so high on his realization that he kind of feels like he could take on the world at the moment. "How do you feel about Sasu—...me?"

And then that feeling subsequently dies. Naruto shrinks. Fuck, give him the world instead. Give him literally _anything else,_ he'll take it over this any day.

Sensing that, Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Let me break it down then, moron. You would follow me to the ends of the earth, no matter what, right?"

Swallowing thickly, Naruto nods.

"You want to be at my side? Want me to be at yours?"

Again, Naruto nods. These answers are all so obvious that he wonders why they're bothering to be asked. It's like no one _knows_ him or something.

"You want me to be happy, no matter what?"

"Why are you asking when you already know the answer?" he can't help but reply.

"Just answer."

"Yes. Always. Your happiness is—" He fumbles slightly because it's just... _Sasuke._ "It could probably—maybe, I'unno—be the most important thing to me." He has to cover his face again, this time out of embarrassment.

"And you're willing to become Hokage, something you were just unsure about during this conversation, to make sure I find a home here, and happiness here too?"

Heat eats at Naruto's face, but there are no lies. Why, oh why does it all have to be spelled out like this? Yes, yes, _yes._ To everything.

A cloud of smoke filters through the room moments later. Startled, Naruto blows it away and waves it out of his face. His shadow clone faces him, face set and determined. It gives him a thumbs up.

"Now all you gotta do is tell him all that!"

Somehow, seeing his own confident thumbs up is... patronizing. Humiliation takes over the startlement and Naruto lunges. He ends up struggling with his clone on the floor... again.

"Why'd you have to be so convincing!" he growls, trying to wrap his hand around the clone's neck.

"Hey, you were the one who wanted me to be!"

"I didn't know you'd be any _good_ at it, shithead!"

They dissolve into grunts, Naruto mostly doing this to smother his thundering heart, indignity, and confusion.

"No KCM in the house!" the clone huffs at him, and he hadn't even noticed his form flickering gold.

"Why am I even struggling with you?!" Naruto groans, grabbing the discarded kunai and running it through the clone.

He's alone again. He collapses onto the floor, memories and thoughts from the clone flooding into him. A trembling hand falls onto his face as a weak laugh escapes him. He's spent.

No wonder he was such a convincing actor... All of these things, he already _knew._ It just... needed to be worked into words. The clone had clearly taken on a mind of its own and eventually started goading him, but it hadn't been wrong about anything. Asked all the right questions. Got all the answers it wanted. Now, Naruto has a new resolve.

Calling Sasuke his 'friend' is a joke. Everyone probably knows it. Everyone else beyond the _grave_ probably knows it. Sue him for being slower on the uptake sometimes, but at least he's figured it out now. Sasuke is... more than a friend to him, and always has been. There probably isn't a single thing Naruto wouldn't do for him; scary truths, for sure, but he's accepted it.

All that's left is for him to make good on his promises.

Just a little over a day is left before Sasuke sets out of the village. Naruto had been willing to let him go, but not without qualms. He was wrong for that, and he's going to apologize for that selfishness. He knows why Sasuke wants to leave. Why Sasuke _has_ to go.

But it doesn't mean he has to go alone.

Now all Naruto has to do is tell him all of this. It's probably—definitely—the worst idea he's ever had, but when has he ever had any good ones to begin with? Stuff like this usually works itself out in the end... And it will, if he's got anything to say about it.

Eyes closed, he inhales a very deep breath and then exhales just as slowly. His eyes open. Conviction sets into his muscles and fortifies his bones.

He gets up and starts to pack. He's going to need a new arm. Maybe he can talk Sasuke into taking one too.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so happy I wrote this, and I'm actually pretty satisfied with it. If you're confused or were questioning why clone-Sasuke seemed to cognizant about actual Sasuke, it's because Naruto already knew everything he was telling himself, but didn't want to admit it; hence the title. While I'm happy I wrote it, I seriously couldn't stop editing, so I had to force myself to. I hope you still enjoyed it anyway. :3c
> 
> Crossposted to [Tumblr](https://uchiuzus.tumblr.com/post/177819028338).


End file.
